Camping

For Travis's birthday we decided to take a short weekend trip camping in the Black Hills. We left on Friday morning and drove 6 hours to Rafter J campground near Hill City. This is the same campground travis has been coming to since he was little. Oliver has been looking forward to this trip since we mentioned it to him, he remembers camping 2 years ago and was excited to do it again. The boys traveled great and we had to do it the old fashioned way-no dvd player! It broke as we were leaving that morning. But our children suprised us by behaving wonderfully-thank you Jesus!!
The first thing on our list was to go to Old McDonald's Farm, a petting farm. The boys LOVED it!!! There were basic farm animals but we could go into the pen and pet the animal. Oliver's favorite was the lambs and the baby goats. There was a teeny black goat that was only 2 weeks old, soooo cute-not so much as they get bigger. Thatcher's favorite was the baby chicks. He kept saying, "I love these ones." It was pretty cool the way they had it set up. They had a place where they stored the eggs until they hatched, then they are moved to a different warmer, and then they are put in a wooden box where we can actually touch them and hold them.
When you buy a pass for Old Mcdonald's Farm, it is good for the next 3 days, so obviously we did go back, 3 times. On the last day, Oliver and Thatcher had their first pony rides. They loved it and felt so Big!
We had a camp fire the first night and made s'mores of course. The cabin was beautiful and had a breathtaking view off the porch. We had to laugh at ourselves for being so in awe-and these aren't even mountains.
The weather was a little cool, so swimming didn't last long. But they had built a new playground area for children and they had fun playing on it when they could.
There was a cruise night in Rapid City on Saturday night-perfect for Travis's birthday, right? Little did we know, there was a huge thunderstorm in Rapid that evening, hail and everything. We got stuck half way there, sitting on the side of the road, waiting for the hail to slow so we could go back to the cabin. I have never seen Travis more freaked out. Luckily, no damage! And of course, now we have a great story to tell.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip and we can't wait to go back again. We are so thankful that we get to spend time together and make wonderful memories like these, especially viewing God's amazing works of art.

daddy time

I always wonder what Travis and the boys do when I am away......

-watch tv?

-play toys?

-eat junk food?

-lay around being lazy?

Now I have proof....

Houseguests!

We were so excited to have Brittany and Aaron come stay with us for a couple of days on their way to Idaho. We hadn't seen her since August and had not met Aaron yet. The time flew by of course but was filled with great memories.

It was wonderful to get to know Aaron a little bit while we cooked s'mores out by the fire.

They brought their dog along and Maggie and her got along well-unless one of them were trying to eat. (females!) It was funny to watch Maggie being chased by a dog half her size, she's such a wimp! lol